Yellowstone National Park 2023

I have been wanting to go to back Yellowstone National Park so a couple of weeks ago I spontaneously booked a cabin at the West Yellowstone KOA (I've stayed there several times and I really like it) and planned a trip.  I drove there on Monday (it is about four hours north of where I live) and spent several days at the park.

My first stop was at Old Faithful.  It had just erupted when I was parking my car so I decided to wait at the lodge until it erupted again.  It is always so exciting to see it go higher and higher and I loved it when the crowd cheered!

The park was really crowded (I thought September would be a good time to go because kids would be back in school but apparently every other retiree had the same idea) so I couldn't follow my usual routine.  I decided to be flexible and hit the spots where I could find parking (I am not very patient when it comes to parking at national parks).

I spent quite a bit of time at the Grand Prismatic Spring which is one of my favorite places in the park.

I came upon a herd of bison while on a scenic drive and the park ranger got mad at me for getting too close to one of them.

Beryl Geyser

Artists Paint Pots

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Upper and Lower Falls

Roaring Mountain

Mammoth Springs

This was a really fun trip!  I just wandered anywhere I felt like going and ended up taking a lot of different scenic drives which were beautiful.  I also enjoyed being in my cabin at the KOA because it rained every night and I loved listening to the sound while falling asleep,

The Stranger Upstairs

My September Book of the Month selection was The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin (the other options were The Intern by Michele Campbell, Evil Eye by Etaf Rum, You, Again by Kate Goldbeck, and The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger).  I once again defaulted to the thriller and this one is incredibly atmospheric with a huge twist and I couldn't put it down! Sarah Slade is a therapist with a best-selling self-help book and a large following on social media. She decides to buy a large Victorian mansion located in a wealthy suburb of Melbourne because the price is too good to pass up even though the house has been empty for over 40 years because it is the site of a notorious murder-suicide. According to neighbors, Bill Campbell began acting more and more erratically until he woke up one day and bashed his wife's skull with a hammer, attempted to do the same to his teenage daughter who was able to get away, and then took his own life by overdosing on tranquilizers. There are those who believe that Black Wood House drove Campbell crazy but Sarah sees her planned renovations as a great opportunity for blog content and as a distraction from her marital troubles. However, Sarah soon experiences strange and unexplained occurrences while in the house and her life spirals out of control as the many secrets she has tried to hide from her past come to light.  She begins behaving as erratically as Campbell once did but is it the house or her own demons causing her break with reality? The narrative is mostly from Sarah's POV in the present with flashbacks to her past, which definitely kept my interest piqued because I wanted to know more about the disturbing incidents between Sarah and her sister, and newspaper and web articles about events as they happen, which does much to create suspense because they imply that Sarah could be a victim or a villain. I enjoyed Sarah as a character because she is so complex and I was impressed by the fact that Matlin uses her own experiences with mental health to inform her actions and motivations (be sure to read the author's note at the end). I also really enjoyed the house itself as a character because there are some really scary sequences that will keep you feeling very unsettled (just in time for Halloween). I have to admit that I found the resolution to be a bit disappointing because it seems so mundane after all of the build up but then there is a major twist in the epilogue that made me question everything! I've heard complaints from other readers that there are too many loose ends but I liked the open-ended conclusion because it kept me thinking about it for days. This is a unique take on the haunted house genre and I highly recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers.

The Nun II

I'm not sure what possessed me (ha ha) to see The Nun II last night because the first movie was a bit of a disappointment.  I do think this one improves upon the original but I still found it to be underwhelming.  Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is now in a convent in Italy when she is summoned once again to investigate a series of unusual murders across Europe that could be attributed to the demon who appears in the guise of a nun (Bonnie Aarons).  She travels with a novitiate named Debra (Storm Reid), who is having a crisis of faith, to the site of the most recent murder and, during her investigation, she discovers that the demon is searching for an ancient relic that is located at a former monastery that is now a boarding school for girls where Jacques (Jonas Bloquet), the farmer who saved her life in Romania, works as a handyman and has a proprietary relationship with a teacher named Kate (Anna Popplewell) and her daughter Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey).  Irene and Debra race to the school for an epic confrontation in which they must save Jacques, Kate, Sophie, and the rest of the students and send the demon back to hell.  The settings are ominous with cobblestone streets at night and dimly lit corridors, staircases, and cloisters in a crumbling Gothic church and I was genuinely scared during a few suspenseful sequences but seeing the image of the demonic nun over and over again becomes tedious (my biggest criticism of the first movie).  Even an intriguing scene featuring a magazine stand becomes boring because it goes on so long (it is a foregone conclusion that the pages will eventually form the image of the nun).  Including the students at the boarding school does create higher stakes but sometimes it seems like there are too many characters and some of them are very superfluous.  The story is both insubstantial and convoluted and not even a great performance from Farmiga could keep my mind from wandering.  I'm sure fans of the Conjuring franchise will like this more than I did but I wouldn't recommend it.

Scrapper

Yesterday I went back to the Broadway (my second home) to see Scrapper and it is so charming.  Georgie (Lola Campbell) is a twelve year old girl living alone on a council estate in a working class suburb of London after the recent death of her mother.  She evades social services by pretending that an imaginary uncle, named Winston Churchill, is looking after her and she steals bicycles, with her accomplice and best friend Ali (Alin Uzun), and sells them for parts to earn money.  When her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson) suddenly appears, she is less than pleased to see him and resists his attempts to get to know her.  However, as they spend more and more time together, they realize that they just might need each other after all.  I have seen a lot of comparisons to Aftersun but, aside from having a fragile relationship between a father and daughter in common, this movie has a more lighthearted tone.  I loved the inclusion of magical realism when we see into Georgie's imagination as she tries to process her grief, especially a scrap metal tower she is building in her mother's bedroom, and having all of the neighbors (who each have their own color) break the fourth wall to give their opinions about her situation like a Greek chorus is hilarious.  Speaking of color, the production design is so vibrant and fun and, when combined with the quirky hand-held camera work, it contributes to a playful vibe.  Dickinson gives a really nuanced performance as a bit of a cad, little more than an adolescent himself, who has been able to avoid all responsibility but suddenly realizes that he wants to be responsible for his daughter.  Campbell, in her debut, absolutely shines and I really enjoyed the back and forth between Georgie and Jason.  I was enchanted by this and highly recommend it.

Black Panther in Concert

Last night I was so happy to be back at Abravanel Hall for this season's first Utah Symphony concert.  The movie Black Panther was shown on the big screen while the orchestra performed the dramatic score by Ludwig Goransson.  I love this movie (it is one of my favorites from the MCU) and it was so much more immersive hearing the music performed live as I watched T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) return to Wakanda after the death of his father to become king only to have Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) challenge him for the throne in order to use vibranium-enhanced weapons to fight oppression around the world.  The score features the West African instrument known as the tama, or "talking drum," so the orchestra was joined by soloist Massamba Diop who actually played the tama on the original recording.  It was so interesting to watch Diop because the tama is an hour-glass shaped drum with two drumheads connected by leather tension cords and it was held between his arm and body which he would use to squeeze these cords to control the pitch as he hit the drumheads with his hands.  I would sometimes pay more attention to him than to the images on the screen!  The sound of the tama represents T'Challa/Black Panther and I loved hearing it in conjunction with a dramatic fanfare by the horns during key moments, such as the coronation, the car chase in Busan, the challenge, and the final battle with Killmonger.  I also loved the theme for Killmonger (one of the best villains in the MCU) which incorporates a mysterious piano melody accompanied by a harp and I was particularly moved by the variation played in the scene where Killmonger finally sees the sunset in Wakanda.  The most emotional moments are when T'Challa visits his father on the Ancestral Plane and the themes played by the strings, especially the cellos, during these scenes are beautiful and a bit mournful.  I really enjoy these films in concert and Black Panther is now my favorite because the score is one of the most exhilarating I've heard the Utah Symphony play in this series.  I highly recommend getting a ticket for tonight's performance (go here).

Note:  The other films in the series are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Frozen, and Casablanca with special performances of Love Actually and How to Train Your Dragon.  I'm looking forward to all of them (go here for more information and tickets).

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Yesterday afternoon I went to see Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe at the Broadway and I loved this subdued but incredibly sweet coming of age story.  Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza (Max Pelayo) is a lonely teen living in El Paso who feels alienated from his peers at school because he feels so different and from his parents (Eugenio Derbez and Veronica Falcon) because they are incredibly closed off and full of secrets.  Dante Quintana (Reese Gonzales) offers to teach Ari how to swim when they meet at the local pool and they bond over their unusual names.  Soon they become inseparable as Dante continues to teach Ari about art, literature, and star gazing.  When Dante movies to Chicago with his family (Kevin Alejandro and Eva Longoria) for a year, Ari misses him and struggles with his own identity.  Their friendship is tested when Dante comes out to Ari in a letter and then declares his love for him when he returns to El Paso.  The themes about identity, masculinity, friendship, sexuality, and love are powerful but they are explored in a gentle and languid way with many beautiful shots in the desert during the golden hour.  The narrative takes place during the 1980s (it features a fantastic soundtrack) and I can't imagine what this movie would have meant to countless teens struggling with their identity and sexuality during this era and I especially love that both sets of parents are supportive of Ari and Dante's relationship without ignoring the challenges they might face.  Gonzales gives a moving performance filled with vulnerability and charm and Pelayo is very handsome and appealing but I sometimes found his performance to be a bit too restrained (I haven't read the book by Benjamin Alire Saenz upon which the movie is based so I'm not sure if his characterization is intentional) because I wanted more emotion during an important turning point.  Their chemistry, however, is palpable and there is a tension about the outcome of their relationship that makes the story compelling.  I highly recommend this tender love story, especially for teens.

Note:  Every year I make a goal to see 100 new releases in the theater and I reached it with this movie (it is the earliest I have ever done so).

Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano in Las Vegas

I have always thought that Lady Gaga is an amazing performer with a flamboyant persona that is fun to watch but I began to respect her as a singer when she sang a medley of songs from The Sound of Music as a tribute to Julie Andrews at the Oscars.  I was absolutely blown away by her performance and since then I have really wanted to see her live.  When I found out that she was doing another residency in Las Vegas this fall featuring her Jazz & Piano Show I spontaneously bought a ticket and, even though I have spent way too much money on concert tickets this year, I am so glad that I did because it was an unbelievable experience!  The concert was last night in the Dolby Live Theatre at the Park MGM Resort and it is an incredible venue!  Lady Gaga had an insanely talented band backing her (like the big band singers in the glory days of Las Vegas) and the setlist included selections from the Great American Songbook as well as jazz and piano arrangements of some of her most popular hits.  The show was divided into five sets and each featured a different costume (and sometimes an elaborate headdress).  For the first set she sang an acoustic version of "Orange Colored Sky" while walking out on stage and then "Luck Be a Lady," "Steppin' Out With My Baby," "The Best Is Yet to Come," and "Call Me Irresponsible" with some hilarious interactions with a couple sitting at a table on stage.  She ended this set with a naughty (naughtier?) version of "Poker Face" on piano (she joked that she hoped no one was foolish enough to bring their children to a Lady Gaga show).  The second set featured "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," "If I Had You," "Do I Love You" (one of my favorite moments in the show), an incredibly powerful rendition of "Born This Way" on piano, and a jazz version of "Stupid Love" with extended solos from Brian Newman on trumpet and Steve Kortyka on saxophone.  Next came "Sway," "Rags to Riches," "Mambo Italiano," and an impressive vocal performance of "'O sole mio."  This set concluded with a jazz arrangement of "Paparazzi" which was another favorite moment for me.  The fourth set included "La vie en rose," "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes," and a piano version of "Bad Romance."  For the final set she sang "Lush Life" and then spoke about her friendship with Tony Bennett before giving an emotional performance of "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)."  As an encore she sang "New York, New York."  I loved all of her interpretations of these standards because, not only does she have the vocal chops to sing them, she also really respects these songs and all of the all of the singers who performed them before her (there is an ode to the songs and singers in the playbill).  Lady Gaga was also hilarious in her interactions with the crowd.  She is almost larger than life and there were several times when I wanted to pinch myself because I couldn't believe that I was actually in the same room with her!  This was definitely a bucket list moment for me and I loved it so much!  There are eight more concerts in this residency (although she hinted that she would be back with a new setlist) and I highly recommend this show!

The Equalizer 3

Last night I finally got around to seeing The Equalizer 3 (I had a very chill Labor Day weekend) and, as a fan of this franchise, I liked the conclusion to the trilogy.  Tormented former operative Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) finds himself at a winery in Sicily, for reasons, and executes members of a cell who have been smuggling amphetamines purchased from a terrorist organization.  He is inadvertently shot but makes it to the Amalfi Coast where he is rescued by the local carabiniere Gio Bunucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea) and taken to a doctor named Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone) who cares for him in the small town of Altamonte.  He makes a slow recovery but calls in a tip about the smuggling operation to CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) who begins an investigation.  McCall feels peace for the first time in years and comes to love the village and its people, especially a waitress he sees every day named Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro), but notices that the Camorra crime family, led by Vincent and Marco Quaranto (Andrea Scarduzio and Andrea Dodero, respectively), is harassing villagers to coerce them to leave to make way for their business ventures.  When Collins discovers that the Camorra family is also responsible for the drug smuggling operation, McCall must get vengeance in order to get back to the quiet life he longs for.  The story is formulaic, the script is a bit messy (the subplot with Fanning's character is really shoehorned in and doesn't really add anything), and there are definitely some pacing issues (McCall sits around drinking tea a lot) but the action sequences are tense and visceral and Washington is captivating as he silently dispatches some thoroughly bad guys in some intriguing, and incredibly brutal, ways.  I really liked the use of light and shadow in the cinematography as well as the many shots of rain drenched cobblestones as a portent of the violence to come.  I also liked the atmospheric score because it really adds to the tension.  In my opinion, this is a satisfying resolution for the character and fans of the franchise will enjoy it.

Bottoms

Last night I saw Bottoms with a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Broadway and it is the funniest movie I've seen this year!  PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are best friends since childhood who are tired of their status as the losers of their school (not because they are lesbians but because they are untalented and ugly lesbians).  At the beginning of their senior year PJ decides that they need to be proactive in their goal to have sex with their crushes Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber) despite the fact that they are popular cheerleaders and Isabel is dating the quarterback Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine).  When their friend Hazel (Ruby Cruz) inadvertently starts a rumor that PJ and Josie spent the summer in juvenile detention and had to fight the inmates every day, they see the effect it has on their classmates, especially the cheerleaders, who often fear for their safety and they decide to start a self defense club.  They enlist their inept history teacher Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) to be the faculty advisor and soon the so-called fight club becomes a source of female empowerment to the members but it also gets the much sought after attention of Isabel and Brittany.  Complications ensue when their real motivation for starting the club is revealed but they must all come together to save the football team from their biggest rival.  I loved the representation in this movie and that it features lots of social commentary but I also loved that it is a hilarious satire of the high school sex comedy genre! I laughed out loud at the clever script from beginning to end (there are so many jokes and I already want to see it again because I'm sure I missed some) and I was definitely not alone!  The portrayal of the football team, who are never out of uniform, is especially over the top because the entire school is invested in the forty year rivalry with another school's football team to the exclusion of everything else. Galitzine is so funny (the scene of him dancing to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" had me in hysterics) and Lynch steals every scene he is in (a joke about being an ally is another laugh out loud moment) but Sennott and Edibiri are wonderful together with a very natural chemistry that is so much fun to watch.  I absolutely loved this and I highly recommend watching it with the biggest crowd you can find with the proviso that it is violent with lots of crude humor.

Note:  Be sure to stay through the credits because there are deleted scenes and bloopers that are just as funny as the movie!

Jeremy Jordan at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre

As a huge theatre nerd I actually squealed out loud when I found out that Broadway star Jeremy Jordan was coming to the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre and I have been looking forward to the show all summer! The concert was last night and to say that it was amazing would be a understatement! He was accompanied by the Utah Valley Symphony under the baton of Blanka Bednarz and the program, much to my delight, consisted mainly of songs from the Great White Way! He began with "Something's Coming" from West Side Story and then continued with "Broadway Here I Come" from the TV show Smash (in which Jordan stars as Jimmy Collins, a composer who writes the Broadway musical Hit List). Next came a really cool arrangement of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma and one of the best renditions of "Soliloquy" from Carousel that I have ever heard. After this Jordan took the first of two breaks while the orchestra played a beautiful medley from Les Miserables. My first introduction to Jordan was in the movie The Last Five Years (which I love) so I was absolutely thrilled that he sang "Moving Too Fast" when he came back to the stage.  One of my favorite moments of the concert came next when he sang "She Used to Be Mine" from Waitress (he played Jim on Broadway but he said Jenna had all of the best songs so he wanted to sing one of hers).  I love this song so much and I've heard Jessie Mueller, who originated the role of Jenna on Broadway, and Sara Bareilles, who wrote the musical, sing it but I have to say that Jordan's rendition gave me goosebumps! He told the crowd that he was required to include a Disney song so he gave a stirring performance of "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Next came a medley of songs originally arranged by Oscar-winning composer Johnny Mandel for Andy Williams which included "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing," "Mona Lisa," "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe," "All the Way," and "Moon River." He told the crowd that he included this medley because he wanted to take advantage of having an orchestra backing him and it was incredibly lush and romantic. Jordan took another short break while the orchestra performed a medley from The Phantom of the Opera and when he returned he brought me to tears with "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables and "Why God, Why?" from Miss Saigon. When I first found out about this concert, I really hoped that he would sing "Santa Fe" from Newsies. He originated the role of Jack Kelly on Broadway and I listen to the soundtrack all of the time so I was incredibly excited to hear a live version of this song and he did not disappoint! He ended his main set with an amazing version, another favorite moment of the concert, that brought the crowd to their feet! For the encore, he performed "Being Alive" from Company which, once again, received an enthusiastic standing ovation! Not only does Jordan have a beautiful voice, he is so charismatic and he had lots of funny and spontaneous interactions with the crowd. His setlist was everything I could have ever wanted as a Broadway fan and I loved every minute! It was definitely worth waiting all summer for!

Golda

Last night I went to the Broadway to see Golda because I have always been fascinated by the history of the Middle East.  It is incredibly powerful with another brilliant performance from Helen Mirren.  The narrative surrounds the Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Syria and Egypt in 1973 with the framing device of the Agranat Comission during which Prime Minister Golda Meir (Mirren) is called upon to explain her controversial decision not to launch a preemptive strike despite receiving intelligence suggesting a coming attack.  While there are strategy meetings with her ministers and generals and some incredibly tense sequences listening to the audio from battle, much of the focus is on how a chain-smoking and stoop-shouldered woman undergoing treatments for lymphoma responds to the crisis.  The constraints imposed on her by her diplomatic position are shown through her complicated relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber), her continuing heath problems are shown through her relationship with her personal assistant Lou Kaddar (Camille Cottin), and her despair over the deaths of so many soldiers is shown through her relationship with her secretary Shir Shapiro (Ellie Piercy) and I think this is very effective at showing the real woman behind the politician.  Mirren is absolutely phenomenal and disappears completely into the role.  I was particularly moved by the scene where she keeps replaying the audio from the devastating battle in her mind and when she must inform her secretary of the death of her son in battle.  I also enjoyed some recurring visual motifs throughout, such as the appearance of birds and the use of the ever present cigarette smoke to represent battle, as well as the dramatic sound design and score.  I really liked this historical drama and highly recommend it.

The Hill

Last night I went to see The Hill because I am a sucker for a good underdog sports story (it was the second one in two days).  Unfortunately, this one is not good.  Rickey Hill, the son of a poverty-stricken itinerant pastor, has a degenerative spinal disease that requires him to wear leg braces as a child (played by Jesse Berry) but he is a phenom at hitting a baseball and dreams of playing in the major league.  His father James Hill (Dennis Quaid) believes that it is God's will that he follow in his footsteps and become a preacher but Rickey believes that it is God's will that he play baseball and he (played as a teen by Colin Ford) eventually becomes a star on his high school team.  However, he must overcome a debilitating injury that requires surgery and the disapproval of his father for a chance to try out for an MLB scout.  Hill's story is compelling and inspirational and I actually enjoyed the messages about faith (it isn't as heavy-handed as I expected it to be) and perseverance so I really wish that the telling of it was better.  It uses a linear timeline with all of the predictable beats of a traditional biopic (which doesn't always bother me if there is some other element to keep my attention) so the pacing becomes very sluggish at times.  I also found the climactic reconciliation between father and son that I had been waiting for throughout the whole movie to be incredibly disappointing because Pastor Hill confesses the error of his ways to his congregation rather than to Rickey.  Most of the supporting characters are one-dimensional, the dialogue is hackneyed, and the score is emotionally manipulative.  The performances range from bland at best to cringe-worthy at worst and Quaid, who I usually really like, is almost laughably bad with a permanent scowl on his face (a school yard bully with a comical grimace as he tries to strike Rickey out in a pick-up game is almost as bad).  The only dynamic presence on the screen is Scott Glenn in a cameo as the curmudgeonly scout Red Murff.  I really wanted to love this but, alas, I didn't and I can't really recommend it.

Gran Turismo

Last night I finally had the chance to see Gran Turismo and, as fan of inspirational underdog sports stories, I absolutely loved it!  I may or may not have cheered out loud during a climactic moment in a race.  Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), a marketing executive for Nissan, pitches the idea to find the best players of the PlayStation game Gran Turismo and have them compete for a chance to race on Team Nissan for the publicity.  He recruits Jack Salter (David Harbour), a former driver turned mechanic, to train the gamers but Salter doesn't think they have the stamina or intuition to succeed and only accepts Team Nissan's offer because his current driver, Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski), is too arrogant for his own good. Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) spends all of his free time playing the game and, despite the disapproval of his father Steven (Djimon Hounsou), he is selected to train at the GT Academy and ultimately wins the respect of Salter and a contract with Team Nissan.  However, after struggling in a few qualifying races, he succeeds in placing and earning a F1 Super License but faces growing backlash from the racing community and must prove himself at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race.  This is somewhat predictable (there is the ubiquitous training montage, the obvious competition between Mardenborough and the driver that Salter abandoned to train him, a convenient love interest, a devastating crash as an emotional arc, and a touching reconciliation between Mardenborough and his father before Le Mans) but it is a really inspiring story about an outsider who overcomes the odds and the visuals are spectacular!  The racing sequences are incredibly immersive and it really seems as if Mardenborough is actually driving when he is playing the game and like he is playing the game when he is driving.   I especially loved the Le Mans race because I was on the edge of my seat during the final lap even though I basically knew what was going to happen (see above comment about cheering out loud).  Madekwe is very appealing but Harbour is the standout for me because, in my opinion, his moving performance as a reluctant mentor is what makes you care about Mardenborough.  The soundtrack is also a lot of fun (I loved the Enya and Kenny G needle drops).  This is much better than I was expecting and I highly recommend it!